Flyers Listening

Flyers Listening
Cambridge Young LearnersEnglish Tests
Recommendationsfor candidate

preparation

Part1
Encourage candidatesto spend the time they are given to lookat
the picture before the questionsstartbythinking abouthow each
of the charactersmightbe described. Theyshould be aware that
they willhave to focuson language thatpointsto the differences
between two similar people in the picture.
The language thatcandidateswillneed for thistaskisthatwhich
isused notonlyfor describing people’s clothesand physical
appearance butalso for commenting on whattheyare doing.
Practice in describing a range of picturesand photoscontaining
people is, therefore, likelyto help candidatesdo wellin thispart
of the test.

Part2
Give candidatesasmuch practice aspossible with thiskind of
productive task, ascandidates sometimes find thistaskdifficult.
Make sure thatcandidatesunderstand the meaningsof, and are
also able to spellcorrectly, the wordsin the Starters, Moversand
Flyers vocabularylists.
Even atFlyerslevel, candidates often seem uncertain aboutthe
namesofsome lettersofthe alphabet in English. Clearlythe more
practice thatcan be given here the better.

Part3
Make sure candidatesread the introductoryquestion atthe head
of the task, which setsthe context, and givesthe instructions. Both
should help them to understand what theyare being asked to do.
Encourage candidatesto listen carefullyto the dialogue and
understand exactlywhatissaid. Theyshould remember that
speakerswilltalkaboutthe two pictureswhich are notcorrect,
aswellasthose thatare. Candidates should therefore notassume
thatthe firstword theyhear isthe rightanswer.

Part4
Part4 coversa wide range ofthe grammar and vocabulary
appropriate to thislevel. Teachers should make sure thatthe
structuresand vocabularylisted in the syllabushave been well
covered in class.
It isalso veryimportantthatcandidateslisten to the whole ofthe
dialogue before choosing their answer. Theyshould be aware that
the correctanswer to each individualquestion maycome atany
point in the dialogue and isnotnecessarilythe lastthing
mentioned.

Part5
As with allpartsofthistest, make sure thatcandidatesknow
exactlywhatisexpected ofthem. In Part5, for example, theyare
required to write something and also to draw and colour one
object. Theywillnotbe expected to write or draw anything difficult.
Nor willtheybe expected to draw or colour particularlywell.
They simplyhave to show thattheyhave understood the
instructionscorrectly.

For thistask, candidateswillneed to show thattheycan
understand language which distinguishesbetween two similar
but slightlydifferentobjectsor people. Thismaybe a matter of
understanding language which explainspreciselywhere someone
or something is, or itmaybe a matter of understanding language
which focuseson how two people or thingslookdifferent. Practice
in handling these typesoflanguage willtherefore stand candidates
in good stead for dealing with thispartofthe test.
Candidatesshould be aware thatthistaskisperhapsmore
challenging than itappearsand should ensure thattheylisten
to the instructionsverycarefully.